


World Aflame

by Skarias



Series: Collateral Damage [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Dark Past, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 13:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15686781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skarias/pseuds/Skarias
Summary: The neverending storms on Dromund Kaas aren't the only thing that can keep you awake at night.





	World Aflame

 

**World Aflame**

 

 

_The smoke was the worst part. He could deal with the agonizing heat that threatened to consume him, he could dodge the bits and pieces that occasionally fell from the ceiling and obstructed the course towards the door. He couldn't do anything against the bloody smoke._

 

_His vision blurred, tears rolled down the sides of his face even as he fought them while stumbling across the floor, doing his best to stay below the smoke, like his dad tought him once. Avou tried holding his breath as long as he could as he crawled towards the door, the toxic cloud spreading rapidly and soon he couldn't see anything but the thick, black mist that quickly blinded him._

 

_He coughed as he tried to stand, the unmistakable taste of metal in his mouth telling him that he must have fallen harder than he originally thought, he couldn't tell anymore, every muscle in his body seemed to hurt and they virtually screamed as he continued to move in the direction he was sure to be the right one. The door was so close. It had to be._

 

_It didn't open, he would've laughed if the smoke wasn't threatening to choke the air out of his lungs with every breath. He threw his fists against the broken door panel, a desperate attempt to do...something, anything, to get out of this hell. He doesn't want to die. Avou thrashed and yelled until his knuckles bled and he couldn't do anything but surrender to the fire and smoke. He doesn't want to die._

 

_He sacked against the durasteel of the door, closing his eyes as the blissful arms of unconsciousness embraced him, the flames closing in as he drifted off into nothingess and the terror that ran through his veins began to subside._

 

_Avou never felt the door give in, never felt it as the masked men dragged him off into a ship he had never seen before. He would awake too late, far away from Iridonia. He was eight years old._

 

He no longer screams when the dreams eventually wake him, drenched in fresh layers of sweat that have become a permanent companion of his nightmare plagued sleep for as long as he could remember.

 

He clenches the bedsheets in his fists as he frantically looks around the room, more out of habit than anything else, the traits of man on the run. The security measures they'd set up wouldn't let anyone through without the alarm going off. He still checks every corner.

 

Avou doesn't let the spike of anxiety that raced through his body show as he squints his eyes and tries to identify the figure standing at his bedside, one arm already moving towards the blaster below his pillow as he suddenly freezes and recognizes the shadow. The room flashes up in a shock of white before the night quickly coats the room in almost absolute darkness once again.

 

"Mako? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

 

The rain hit the broad window almost rhythmically as another bolt of lightning cut through the sky and broke the blackness for a split second.

 

"I...was worried." she confesses, a look of embarassment crossing her face that he couldn't catch in the darkness of the room, "I heard you thrashing around and talking from the other room and..." she trailed off, or maybe she didn't and the bounty hunter just stopped listening after that.

 

"I do- thanks." he wasn't sure what to say, should he say anything? Nobody in the past had cared enough to check up on him in the middle of the night. He should say something.

 

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked, the sincerity in her voice making him want to punch a hole in the wall of the Dromund Kaas apartment they had rented for the night.

 

"Bad dreams, nothing I can't handle." he does his best to try and smile and shake the dreams off, the memories still clinging to him like engine oil to his hands. He fears she doesn't buy it, that his voice somehow betrayed him. He was about to say something when Mako silently sighes and rises from the chair next to the bed, making her way towards the door through the darkness. Avou let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding once she was out of earshot.

 

"Just...I'm here if you need to talk, all right?" she mumbles as she stood in the doorframe, the bright light from the next room eluminating her body in an almost ethereal manner.

 

"I know." he replies more to the darkness and himself than anyone else as he lets his head drop back onto the wet pillow and stares at the ceiling. Mako had closed the door and left the room minutes ago.


End file.
